Amelia J. ZelkoMissing since September 25, 1957 from Joliet, Will County, Illinois. Classification: Missing

Vital Statistics

Age at Time of Disappearance: 47 years old

Distinguishing Characteristics: White female.

Clothing/Jewelry: Possibly a diamond bracelet and a 17 1/2 carat diamond ring. The ring was worth an estimated $38,000 in 1957 and would be worth over $250,000 today.

Dentals: Available

AKA: Molly

Circumstances of DisappearanceZelko disappeared from Illinois in 1957. She was a newspaperwoman, running a weekly paper in Joliet.
She had blasted mobsters and political corruption on the front page of her weekly newspaper, The Spectator. On the Spectator's pages, Molly had also actively crusaded against gambling. It is unknown if any of this was related to her disappearance.
Zelko left her newspaper's Cass Street office just before 23:30.
A bartender later said she'd stopped in for a drink and used a pay phone on her way home. Zelko then parked in front of 413 Buell Avenue, where she lived in a second-floor apartment.
On the same day that Zelko disappeared, a witness claimed that she saw some men bury the body of a woman near her home, but Zelko was never recovered.
All that was found of Zelko were her two shoes. When she was in danger, she had told friends she would kick off her shoes and run.
At first police believed she had been kidnapped but no ransom note arrived. Searches were done but no trace of Zelko was found.
Zelko was declared legally dead in 1964.

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